Fruit sizer



Sept.- 20, 1927.- 1,643,190

J. a. voN cANoN FRUIT s1 zER Filed July 1s. 1926 '2 sheets-snee: 1

wTNEssEs INVENTOR J'.' 25. VOJLChJwIv.

ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 20, 1927'. Y

.. 1,643,190 vuNlfTfvED ,STATES PATENT oFF-ica..

. .AiirrzssB, kvoiv` CANON, or wnsrnnn, .NORTH onajotrim.

FRUIT srznn.

application nien .111135 13',

` This invention relates to improvements in fruit si'zers by means'ofwhich the sizing rollers )may bey adjusted to simultaneously move bodilyin'therespective directions or bymeans of Awhichonefor `theother of thel two endsof the rollers may 'be'ysimultane'f4 ously adjusted alone linfully disclosed'belo'wl j y Y 5 t. Other objects'andiadyantages appearin the 'following'specification, reference being had tothe accompanyingdrawings, inwhich 'Figurel is aper'spective view of enough y of afruit'sizer to illustrate the 'application ofthe invention, j l igure 2is a plan Viewy of thefruit'sizel in' use, beinggconfinedmto thep'artsimmedi si'zer, and is used forthe purpose' of assort ately4 concerned',4

vFigure 3 is a detail sectional view of one ofthe adjustable bearings, v.l Y 1 I `igure 4-is a detailfsectional viewshowying thel means `whichpermits individual adjustmentfof oneor thefo'ther of the two ends of'thesizer rollers.

The existing machine in which the improvement is effected vis known-asthe Burke ing or grading peaches, pears and other tenderfruitaccordingeto size, it being an importantrequirement ina machine rofthis character to handle the fruit without bruis# ing the skin., yThemain details aredescribed I with `particularity 'to enable thev readerto understand the signicanceof 'the improvement. j 1 Mounted upon theframework l are pairs of pulleys 2,L 3;' 4,15; '6, 7 and 8,9 (Fig2)which are separated` into setsas shown, the two sets being respectivelysituated at what is hereinknown as the front'and rear of the sizer.Spring beltslO, 11,*12 and y13 are applied to the various'pulleys Yinparallel i relationship, for example, the belt 10 is applied'to thepulleys 2and 6, etc., the spring A belts being regarded as relativelyfixed when considered in connection withthe adjustable-sizer rollers.'`

Of thelatter four are shown, beingdesignated 14, 15, 16 and 17.4 TheVnumber of sizer rollers varies with thecapacity-of the machine. Themachine illustrated is known as the four-roll sizei, othersbeing madewith more or less rollers 1n even numbers.

' relationship vto theadjacentfspring belts,

Thesizerirollers are disposedin parallel forexample, the roller 14 isparallel with the spring belt 10. y'Thetvvo elements men the manner more1926. Serial N0. 122,228.

tioned provide contacting surfaces (troughs, in effect) upon Vwhich thepeaches or other fruits to be'graded roll, .said element-s being inpracticedisposed on a slight downward slantftoward the front of themachine n4to further thelatter purpose. Each of the sizer rollers isformed in a plurality of `di- 'ameters,"y andv inasmuch as theselbecomes progressively smaller towardl the frontA of the *machina itfollows that.A the .spaces through which "the V.fruit .may drop Jbecomeprogressively vlarger toward thev front ofthe machine. Y 4

' A countershaft 1S mounted upon the framework 1 (Fig. 1) andA.driven-'by any suit-able sourcev ofr power, for example Ythe belt '19and pulley 20, carries a yplurality of pulleys 21 and 22 forthe'respective pur`V poses of driving the spring belts 10, 11,1etc.

at the sizer rollers 14, 15, eter for. which *Y multaneous drive of allLof therollers and f spring belts. VThe belts 10 are driven for--v wardlyandthe sizer rollers 14, etc. are drivenoutwardly in respect to theadjacent belts. The'points of'contact of theV Afruit are thereforecontinually changingl thereby avoiding Vany possibility of vinjuring thefruit by friction.Y As the' fruitis worked forwardly the various sizesdrop through when appropriate .places are reached,"'there beingbeltsunderneath, for example 80 and 31 (Fig. 1) to catch the fruit andconveyy it elsewhere. vThe largest fruit vrolls oft of the rollersat thefront of the machineo'nto a suitable platform (not shown).

The improvement relates to the bearings offthe sizer rollers 14, 15,etc. and to the adjustment thereof. By way of momentary deviationfit maybe stated that the procedure in vogue is to adjust the bearing at eachyend ,of each ofthe rollers individually when the needfor adjustmentarises.

When making such adjustmentsthe operator mustV depend largely upon hisieye for accuracy. It is evident that .the axes of the "to lift thelatch 49-(Fig. 4,) whereupon either rod can" be turned'L to yadjust `thebearings thereofwithout affecting the other rod and its bearings.

`A further improvementresides in the proviison' of one `or more studs 51at the discharge or front end of the rollers 14, 15, etc., the purposeci' these being to dislodge a fruit' F (Fig. 2) should there b'e anyten- 2 dency to remainin position rather than to roll off into the thefront;

Vhile the construction and the arrangeplatform (not shown) at ment ofthe improved fruit sizeris that of' a generally preferred'form,obviously modifications andvchanges may be made without departing fromthe spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim 1. Ay device of the character described comprising acontinuously driven spring belt, a continuously driven roller situatedbeside the belt, bearings upon which the roller is journaled at theends; in combination, a boss formed upon each of the bearings, each bosshaving an internally threaded bore, a

threaded bushing situated in each of the` threaded bores, and means forsimultaneously turning both bushings to shift the bearings in onedirection and bodily shifting the entire roller in respect to the beltto vary Athe spacing between the belt and roller.

2. A device ofthe character described comprising a plurality of lspringbelts, a plurality of sizer rollers each being situated beside abelt inparallelism therewith, a

, common countershaiit having elements for driving the respective beltsand sizer rollers,

' a bearing for each end of each of the rollers,

and means for simultaneously shifting all of the bearings thereby bodilymoving the entire rollers inrespect to the belts retaining saidparallelism thereby to vary the spacing Abetween the belts and rollers.

3. A device of the character described,

comprising a plurality of spring belts, a plurality of sizer rollerseach being situated beside a spring belt in parallelism therewith, abearing for each end of each of the rollers, each bearing having apendant bushing with internally threadedbores, parallel rods eX-tending` across the device, threaded bushings carried by the rods andoccupying said bores, drive means connecting the rods, and means forrevolving one of the rods thereby revolving the' other of the rodsthrough said drive means causing simultaneous turning of all ofthebushings and simultaneous shifting of all of the bearings to bodilyadjust 'the rollers in respect to 'the belts andvary the spacingtherebetween;V y ff j 4. A device of the characterdescribedcomprising a'plurality of spring belts, a plurality ofsizer' rollers each beingsituated bely side a spring belt in parallelism therewith, a beharingfor each end' of each of the rollers, said bearing'of each roller havingsimilarly threaded bores but the bore of the bearings kof succeedingrollers being oppositely threaded thereby producing a succession ofright and lefthand threaded arrangements across YJche device, a pair ofparallel rods extending across the device, a plurality of bushingscarried by the rods one for each bearing and being appropriatelythreaded to work in the threaded bores of the bearings, and means tosimultaneously turn both rods in the same direction thereby causing asimultaneous adjustment ofV all of the rollers in relation to theadjacent belts without disturbing the parallelism thereof.

5. A device of the character described com prising a plurality of springbelts, a plurality of sizer rollers each being situa-ted beside a springbelt in parallelism therewith, a bearing for each end of each of therollers,

of succeeding rollers being oppositely Vthreaded thereby producing asuccession of right and left hand threaded arrangements across thedevice, a pair of parallel rods eX- tending across the device, aplurality of bushings carried by the rods one for each bearing and beingappropriately threaded to work in the threaded bores of the bearings,means to simultaneously turn both rods in the same direction therebycausing a simultaneous adjustment of all of the rollers in relation tothe adjacent belts without disturbing the parallelism thereof, and meansassociated with the driving means of said rod being operable to confinethe turn ing to one of the rods thereby coniining the simultaneousadjustment to the series 'of bearings associated with said one rod andfurther confining the adjustment to one end or" all of the rollers. Y

6. A device of the character described comprising a plurality of springbelts, a plurality of sizer rollers there being one for each of thebelts situated in parallelism therewith, a bearing for each end of eachof the rollers arrangedin transverse series, a pair of transverse rods,screw adjustments between the rods and each of the bearings, the threadsfor each rollerbeing the same but certain of threads being alternatelyright and left hand threads when the rollers are considered insuccession transversely of the device, sprockets carried by each of thethe sprockets being,r movable to a locked postion against tbe respectiverod caneingr turning o't' botb rods upon turningY ot' one oilE thehandles thereby to simultaneously adjust all o't the bearings` and beingmovable into an unlocked position confining the adjustment to onetransverse series ol bearings when tbe appropriate handle is turned.

7. A devicel of the character described 10 comprising Va continuouslydriven springl belt, a continuously driven sizer roller situated besidethe belt, a bearing for an end of the roller, means 'lor adjusting tbebearing to sblt the roller in respect to the belt said means including atransverse rod, and a stud projecting from tbe roller adjacent to thebearing to dislodge an object settling in position between the belt,roller and rod.

JAMES B. VON CANON.

